A Bristol, Fla., man has been sentenced to life in prison after kidnapping and nearly killing his former girlfriend on May 2, 2011.

On Wednesday, a Decatur County jury found Wayne Anthony Davis, 43, of Bristol, guilty of the charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault and failure to register as a sex offender.

Superior Court Chief Judge Wallace A. Cato sentenced Davis to a life sentence on the charge of kidnapping, 20 years to serve on the aggravated assault charge (concurrent with life sentence) and 30 years to serve on the charge of failure to register as a sex offender (to serve consecutively to the life sentence).

According to Sheriff’s Office Investigator Brian Donalson, Davis showed up at his then-girlfriend’s house, where he sometimes stayed, around 6 a.m. on May 2, 2011. The house was located in southwestern Decatur County in what is known as the Booster Club community.

Davis showed up at the house and asked the victim to come outside and talk with him. After she came outside, Davis grabbed a baseball bat and began hitting her head, neck and body with it, Donalson said.

The victim screamed for her grown daughter, who was asleep at the time, but she didn’t hear the cries for help.

The victim stated Davis threw her off the back steps of her home and then proceeded to bind her hands with rope and gag her. He then put her in the trunk of his car and poured bleach on her in an effort to get some of the blood off, Donalson said. Davis also reportedly poured gasoline on the victim.

Davis then drove to a wooded area in Bristol, Fla., where he works at an automotive repair shop, and took the victim out of the trunk.

“He basically gave her a choice of how he would kill her,” Donalson said, last May.

Facing the prospect of harm, the victim talked Davis into calling 911 and telling authorities he didn’t know her but had found her in the woods. He did so, but after Liberty County Sheriff’s deputies showed up, the victim told them enough to make them suspicious of Davis, who was taken into custody.

Decatur County investigators learned the real story from the victim after she was taken to a North Florida hospital for treatment. She was in the hospital for three days, but later recovered at home, Donalson said.

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Davis was convicted of sexual battery against a child under the age of 16 in Gadsden County, Fla., in 1999. Since he was a sex offender in Florida but was also spending a lot of time in Georgia, Davis was charged with failure to register as a sex offender, Donalson said.